Conventional collating and binding apparatus utilizes printed sheets which arrive from a press folded into 8-, 16-, 32-or 64-page sections known as "signatures." Signature dispensers known as "pockets" store stacks of signatures. The pockets drop the signatures onto a conveyor chain which travels past a line of pockets; the signatures hang from the chain as do blankets on a clothesline. The apparatus builds a book as a station on the chain corresponding to the book travels past a succession of pockets and receives a succession of signatures dropped on one another by the pockets. The chain continues past a stapler or stitcher which staples, stitches or otherwise fastens the signatures together. An infeed/reject station pulls the books off of the chain and forwards them via a belt conveyor to a trimmer where three separate knives trim the top, bottom and non-stapled edges. The trimmer typically sends the books to a stacker which organizes the books into stacks or "packages."
The stacker sends the packages to one or more strapping machines which place straps around the packages. The packages may then be sent to a mail table or other processing station. A programmable device typically controls the timing and operation of the pockets, stapler, infeed/reject station and stacker.
Mail order catalog and magazine manufacturers typically classify books into two sizes: a "chopper" size and a "digest" size. Chopper size books are typically on the order of eight inches by eleven inches, while digest books are usually approximately five inches by eight inches. Long ago the industry recognized that digest books can be manufactured more efficiently by collating, binding and processing digest-size books simultaneously in pairs. The pockets and conveyor chain operate as described above, but each signature contains two book sections, a leading section and a trailing section. Each book taken from the conveyor chain at the infeed station thus actually forms two books, a leading book and a trailing book. A fourth and fifth knife cut in half each book received from the first, three-knife, trimmer and trim the trailing edge of the leading book and the leading edge of the trailing book. The trimmer sends the leading books to a first or "A" stacker with its associated "A" strappers and mailing table and the trailing books to a "B" stacker with its associated "B" strappers and mailing table. Twice as many digest-size books may thus be formed per increment of time using this double stream or "two-up" process. The "two-up" process is often referred to as a "five-knife" process because of the fourth and fifth knives which form two books from one. The process which forms one chopper book at a time is likewise referred to as "one-up" or "three-knife" process.
Collating and binding lines typically utilize analog or digital techniques and computing circuits to track books as they are formed on the chain and travel through the trimmers and stackers. A timing transducer such as a magnetic transducer adjacent to the conveyor chain typically senses a mark associated with chain position, such as on a drive shaft, and sends a synchronization pulse to the computer so that the computer is synchronized with chain movement. The computer in turn delivers signals to the pockets to instruct them when to drop signatures onto the chain. The computer typically contains shift registers through which a code corresponding to each book progresses as the book travels down the chain and through the infeed, trimmer and stackers. The computer thus "knows" where each book is and which components of the line are operating on which books at a particular time. In this way, for instance, a book is tracked starting at the first pocket, and the computer may, while the book is being formed, simultaneously be controlling the printing of a mailing label that will be glued to the book when it reaches a label station after trimming.
The computer may also receive a thickness signal for each book from a caliper adjacent to the conveyor chain and compare that signal, which corresponds to the actual thickness of the book, to a preset or predetermined thickness value. If the actual thickness falls outside of a predetermined tolerance, the computer can deliver a signal to the infeed station causing it to reject or discard the book. The computer can then reorder the book by, for instance, reinserting the book's version code into the shift registers so that the pockets receive signals to form the book once again. The pockets themselves may also send error signals so that books can be rejected and reordered when a pocket fails to drop a signature.
Collating lines also frequently incorporate ink jet printers adjacent to the conveyor chain for printing information on the books. A first ink jet may, for instance, be located adjacent to the chain after the first two pockets. It may be located under the chain to spray ink on the interiors of books as they travel by in order to form name and address information on order forms or other interior pages. A second ink jet may also be located after the last pocket adjacent to the conveyor chain to print mailing information on the outside cover. Such ink jets are typically controlled by a computer that communicates with the collating line computer or forms a portion of it. Collating and binding lines which include reject and reorder mechanisms that track books through the line and that include such ink jets can thus reorder, remanufacture and reprint information on books that were earlier rejected for improper thickness or because a pocket failed to drop a signature.
Conventional collating lines may also manufacture books in a sequence organized by carrier route, zip code, sectional carrier facility, bulk mail facility or other "zone" for efficient mail handling and favorable postage rate treatment. The computers in such lines typically receive tape recorded digital formatted information in which records for the books are presorted into the desired zone format. The computer tracks the books serially through the line and onto the stackers and strappers. The stackers and strappers separate the books into zone packages and send the packages to the mail table for stacking on pallets or in mail bags.
Retailers and other mailers sometimes desire that different editions of the same catalog be sent to different categories or sets of recipients. Such retailers have segmented their markets and identified a first set of addressees as appropriate for a first edition of book, a second set for a second edition and perhaps more sets for more editions. The different editions of the same catalog may include different numbers of signatures, for instance, or certain of the signatures may be substituted for others. A typical example of books made according to such "selective binding" techniques are different versions of the same national weekly news magazine which include several pages targeted to a particular city, state or other local audience. Similarly, a mail order retailer may desire that addressees who have never purchased from the retailer receive a thinner edition of a catalog while repeat buyers receive catalogs that show more or different types of merchandise.
Additionally, a mailer's list of addressees may fail to include a sufficient number of addressees in many carrier routes (or other postal zones) to allow the mailer to maximize favorable postal rate treatment by mailing books packaged according to carrier route. However, if other similar mailers with similar lists exist, then two or more of the lists could be combined in order to sort address records for, and simultaneously manufacture, package and mail, two or more different catalogs (or various editions of the two or more catalogs) so that the mailers maximize favorable postal rate treatment.
One-up selective binding processes utilizing address records sorted by zones to produce zone packages containing several editions of the same of book are conventional. One-up processes selective binding processes could also be used simultaneously to manufacture and mail different catalogs or editions of different catalogs. The term "version" as used in this document refers to different editions of the same catalog, different catalogs, different editions of different catalogs, or other sets of books, each of which sets contains a combination of signatures different from the other sets.
In a one-up selective binding process, the books are serially manufactured, zone by zone, on the conveyor chain as various combinations of pockets drop the required signatures onto the chain corresponding to the required version of each book. The computer tracks the books as they serially progress through the trimmer and to the stackers and strappers. It controls the stackers and strappers to organize and package the books into packages according to zones.
A two-up collating and binding line does not produce books serially, however; it simultaneously manufacturers pairs of books to produce two output streams of books. Leading books of the pairs flow to a first stacker, strappers and mail table to produce a first set of packages while trailing books of the pairs simultaneously flow to a separate stacker, strappers and mail table to produce a second set of packages. The leading book frequently bears an address for an entirely different state than the trailing book.
The likelihood that each zone package to be produced on the "A" side (from leading books) will contain the same number of books as the corresponding zone package produced simultaneously on the "B" side (from trailing books) is minimal, much less the chance that each package will contain the same number of each version of book so that each leading and trailing book can be matched in pairs and formed simultaneously on the conveyor chain.
The conventional solution is thus to selectively bind digest-sized books in a one-up rather than a two-up process.